Cross-Language Relations in Composition brings together the foremost scholars in the fields of composition, second language writing, education, and literacy studies to address the limitations of the tacit English-only policy prevalent in composition pedagogy and research and to suggest changes for the benefit of writing students and instructors throughout the United States. Recognizing the growing linguistic diversity of students and faculty, the ongoing changes in the English language as a result of globalization, and the increasingly blurred categories of native, foreign, and second language English speakers, editors Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, and Paul Kei Matsuda have compiled a groundbreaking anthology of essays that contest the dominance of English monolingualism in the study and teaching of composition and encourage the pursuit of approaches that embrace multilingualism and cross-language writing as the norm for teaching and research.

The nine chapters comprising part 1 of the collection focus on the origins of the “English only” bias dominating U.S. composition classes and present alternative methods of teaching and research that challenge this monolingualism. In part 2, nine composition teachers and scholars representing a variety of theoretical, institutional, and professional perspectives propose new, compelling, and concrete ways to understand and teach composition to students of a “global,” plural English, a language evolving in a multilingual world.

Drawing on recent theoretical work on genre, complexity, performance and identity, as well as postcolonialism, Cross-Language Relations in Composition offers a radically new approach to composition teaching and research, one that will prove invaluable to all who teach writing in today’s multilingual college classroom.

Bruce Horner holds an endowed chair in rhetoric and composition at the University of Louisville. His books include Terms of Work for Composition: A Materialist Critique.

Min-Zhan Lu is a professor of English and University Scholar at the University of Louisville.  Her books include Shanghai Quartet: The Crossings of Four Women of China

Paul Kei Matsuda, an associate professor of English at Arizona State University, is the coeditor of seven books on second language writing.

“Cross-Language Relations in Composition will change the way we think about how we teach, who we teach, and what we teach.”—Morris Young, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

“This book makes clear that our future lies in a multilingual world where the ability to negotiate among different kinds of language in use will be critical. The leading scholars included here guide the field of composition studies toward that future.”—Patricia Bizzell, College of the Holy Cross

 “Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, and Paul Kei Matsuda have gathered a distinguished cross-section of contributors from among the most innovative thinkers and the most active leaders in our field . . . Our thanks go to the editors and contributors for their leadership in helping us with the ongoing task of demystifying our angels and demons in this work and helping us to move more vigorously toward actually joining a linguistically diverse world, rather than struggling so mightily to ignore it."—Jacqueline Jones Royster, The Ohio State University

“Cross-Language Relations in Composition provides readers with a well-grounded historical, theoretical, and political understanding of the role of language in the teaching of writing to an increasingly diverse student body participating in an increasingly interconnected world. . . . A potent and inspiring read that breaks with the past.”—Juan Guerra, University of Washington at Seattle